


Better Than None At All

by orphan_account



Category: The Vampire Diaries
Genre: Gen, Magic, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 20:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Bonnie always hated that in books and on TV, like things happened to characters without them being involved at all; she was definitely involved in this, much as it royally sucked." Gen about Bonnie, Damon, and broken promises.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Than None At All

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mystikheather](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystikheather/gifts).



> One Damon doing something (sort of) selfless, at your request. I hope you like your story!

Bonnie didn't mean for it to happen. But that was kind of a clichéd thing to say, wasn't it? She always hated that in books and on TV, like things happened to characters without them being involved at all; Bonnie was definitely involved in this, much as it royally sucked.

But let's back up for a minute-- or maybe a few hours instead.

It started at The Grill, like most things in Bonnie's life that didn't start at school or at Elena's or at Grams' or in the woods somewhere. It wasn't like there was a hell of a lot to do in Mystic Falls ever, even with her car. Her dad was just protective enough not to let her go anywhere fun, so she pretty much had to make do until she graduated.

The Grill was having their third Really Old Small Town Fest this month and of course everyone Bonnie knew was there. Seriously, there was nothing to do in Mystic Falls. Elena was across the room, head bent close to Stefan's, of _course_, but she kept throwing concerned looks Bonnie's way, which was perfectly ridiculous because it wasn't _Bonnie_ who was still recovering from an accident in a flipped-over SUV because of her on-again, off-again vampire boyfriend. All Bonnie had to worry about was a few sleepless nights because of long-dead relatives who liked to haunt dreams and occasionally lock her in bathrooms.

Okay, Bonnie relented, maybe Elena had good reason to be concerned about her. Emily and Grams hadn't been making Bonnie's life easy lately, even with that ugly yellow crystal out of her life for good.

"Hey, witch," someone said into Bonnie's ear. She jumped, which was a completely reasonable reaction because normal people didn't just sneak up from behind. Besides, this particular person gave her the heebie-jeebies in broad daylight and spotted from fifty paces, if Damon even _counted_ as a person. Not that that was fair to Stefan since he was doing just fine proving that not all vampires were complete jerkwads, but jeez, she didn't feel like arguing with herself.

Bonnie spun around and poked Damon's chest, even though she always got a jolt of cold, bad memory whenever she touched him or Stefan. Stupid psychic powers. "Your crystal's gone and you don't need to kiss up to me to get in good with Elena, okay?" she said, making herself sound braver than she felt. "You already know she knows what you are and so do I. So go away."

Damon shot her a half-smile and shoved his hands into his pockets. His nonchalant act pissed her off so much, but he could kill her and had even _tried_ and Bonnie was a lot of things but stupid wasn't one of them. "How's Emily anyway? Visiting nightly, I bet. Tell her I said hi."

Bonnie wasn't going to ask how Damon knew that. Bonnie didn't want to know how Damon knew that. But it had... well, it had been pretty bad lately, and Bonnie couldn't figure out why Emily wouldn't go away. She'd come back and used Bonnie's body to destroy that crystal Damon was so hot for, Bonnie knew that much, but even though she thought that would be it, Emily kept showing up in her dreams anyway. Grams thought it was just something else Bonnie had to embrace because she had to accept her magic into her heart, but Bonnie thought it was just pretty rude. She definitely wasn't going to haunt her descendents once she died.

If she even made it to eighteen, that was, considering she had a vampire breathing down her neck.

"Oh god, you look so pitiful when you're thinking hard," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "Reminds me of Stefan. Two words, Bonnie: vernal equinox."

"What?" Bonnie asked. "Is that like a band or something?"

Damon laughed, and it wasn't a nice laugh. He was making fun of her. "No, but I'll be sure to keep that in mind whenever I decide to take my act on the road. The vernal equinox -- it's the start of spring and the reason we're having this watered-down, hundred-year-old festival right now. It's also one of the peak times for magic.... or taking advantage of it, which is probably why your great-great-great-great grandmother has rented out the inside of your head. Do you think she's warning you or exploiting you?" He shrugged. "Oh well. Sweet dreams, Bonnie."

He walked away before Bonnie could come up with a clever retort; she hated it when her brain and mouth couldn't coordinate fast enough and now she just wanted to get away -- get away from Damon, from this stupid party, from everything inside her own head that she couldn't escape anyway, and even if her brain and mouth weren't on speaking terms, her feet seemed to be getting the message just fine. Bonnie was out the door almost before she realized it.

Bonnie walked a little bit away from The Grill, far enough that no one would notice her, but close enough that she could still hear the noise from the party. There was this grove of trees where she could take out her frustrations, or at least she hoped so. Not that she could do a lot of damage yet; she'd made feathers fall from Elena's ceiling, and maybe her anger had turned one car wash into a disaster, but she didn't know how much of her power was hers to control.

Bonnie bit her lip and narrowed her eyes and thought about stupid murderous jerks, holding up her hand and concentrating hard. Her eyes widened when a glowing orange ball appeared, floating half an inch from her palm. Then she just threw it, like it was a rubber ball and not concentrated power. It sped toward a tree and the trunk burst into orange flames.

"Whoa!" she yelled. That was totally not what she'd been expecting. She tried countering it and as soon as the thought popped into her head, another ball of energy appeared in her hand, bluish-white and glassy. She threw that one, too, the fire extinguishing in a shower of icy sparks. Bonnie gingerly touched the tree's trunk, shaking her head in confusion. There wasn't a scar on it, not a burn mark, not even a little bit of ash floating away. "Whoa," she repeated, more quietly. Maybe Damon was right about this whole vernal equinox thing. She never thought she had that much power, especially not that she could control. Right in the palm of her hand, huh.

"Quite an impressive display of power," someone said.

Bonnie whirled around. "Damon, you ass, don't--" Then something hit her hard in the side of the head and she crumpled to the ground.

\--

So, yeah, Bonnie didn't mean for any of that to happen. Because really, who plans on taking their frustration out on a bunch of trees only to wind up knocked unconscious and locked in someone's trunk? Her head was throbbing and her hands were pulled behind her back and bound by nothing, as far as she could tell, but she couldn't pull them apart no matter how much she struggled. She couldn't do anything when she tried to magically affect them, either, and really what was the point of being a witch if she couldn't even save herself from kidnappers?

Bonnie blinked a lot, refusing to cry. Yeah, she was scared -- terrified, in fact -- but that didn't mean she had to break down and give up. Things weren't hopeless. What did Grams always say? It was always darkest right before the dawn, right? Right.

The car braked suddenly, making the tires squeal loudly and throwing Bonnie forward, forcing a gasp out of her throat. Then the car stopped and Bonnie could hear a lot of scuffling and commotion and a bunch of voices, two guys and two girls. They all sounded angry and Bonnie thought she recognized one of the guys, but she didn't take the time to play voice identifier, instead banging hard on the roof of the trunk with her boots and screaming for help, over and over until the scuffling outside turned into silence and she could move her arms again. The trunk clicked open.

"Damon?" Bonnie gasped.

"God, who knew that when you promised to save someone's children, you were bound to it _forever_?" Damon helped her out of the trunk. "You witches have one sweet deal."

Bonnie wasn't really listening, though. She was too busy blinking down at the bodies on the ground, their throats all torn out and blood pooling underneath them.

"Warlocks," Damon sighed. "They like sacrificing witches and stealing their magic, you know the drill."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Bonnie said, slapping a hand over her mouth.

"Well, do that before you get in the car, will you? Puke takes forever to get out of upholstery." He laughed. "Not that it's my car."

\--

Once they were on the road again, Damon seemed downright cheerful, singing along with the radio and driving one-handed, his other arm resting on the open window. Bonnie spent a lot of time staring at him with a look of mild revulsion, not speaking because it was taking all of her strength just to remember how to breathe.

"What?" Damon said eventually, right after a rousing rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. "You've been staring at me for twenty minutes. It's my cheekbones, right? Everyone loves those."

"You killed all those people back there. Doesn't that bother you?"

"Not really. Vampire, remember?"

"Stefan wouldn't have --"

"Hey! Shut up about Stefan; those were the _bad guys_. They were going to slice you open and read your entrails or something, you got that? It's not my fault that someone other than me saw your little fireworks display."

Bonnie stared straight ahead. "You saw that?"

"Obviously. What do you have against trees anyway? Arbor Day horror?" Damon asked. "Never mind. Lucky I saw, too, because no one would have noticed you were gone for hours otherwise." He gasped mockingly. "I guess I'm kind of your hero!"

"Yeah," Bonnie said. "Sort of-- thanks. But why?"

Damon shrugged. "Told you. I made a promise to Emily to protect her children, and the mystical forces are holding me to that. And just for the record, mystical forces take promises really damned seriously."

"Oh."

"So where am I taking you now? Home, Elena's?"

Elena's sounded really nice right now. Bonnie could curl up with her and Elena would tell her that Damon was a bad guy, that killing a bunch of people because of some ancient curse thingy didn't make him noble or anything, and Bonnie could go right back to feeling freaked out by him every time he showed up somewhere.

"Can you take me to my Grams?"

Damon glanced over at her. "One Bennett great-great granddaughter coming right up."

\--

"Bonnie?" Grams said when she opened the door. She was already dressed for bed. "It's late."

"What does it mean when a witch promises something to someone else for a promise in return?"

Grams let out a long breath. "Maybe you'd better come inside."

\--

Bonnie refused to tell her grandmother why she was asking about promises; it sucked not to give her the whole story, but she didn't know how much Grams knew about the Salvatores and she wouldn't tell Elena's story because she said she wouldn't.

But Bonnie learned. She learned about magical contracts, and blood for blood. How if a witch did something for you and you didn't do that thing in return, you'd die.

"But if a witch breaks her end of the bargain..."

"Yes?"

"Well, it's simpler. It just nullifies it, and the other person is free. Probably unhappy," Grams said, "but free."

Bonnie knew from Elena that Emily's crystal had been part of her contract with Damon, and she knew that Emily destroyed it. She suddenly slapped her hand to the side of her neck and let out a small gasp, the memory of Emily leaving her body and Damon's teeth sinking into her throat flooding back in an instant.

Damon could totally hurt her. He'd even tried before. Whatever deal he'd had with Emily a billion years ago was over now. She didn't get it.

Bonnie curled up next to Grams, and tucked into her side when her grandmother dropped an arm over her shoulders.

"What's wrong, little girl?" Grams asked.

"Nothing, apparently," Bonnie said. "Can I sleep here tonight?"

"You're always welcome with me."

\--

Once Bonnie settled into the guest bedroom, her mom's room growing up, there was a text from Elena on her phone:

_Are you ok? Damon told me to wish you a happy spring &amp; said you'd tell me what he meant._

Bonnie nodded to herself. _For now I am. I'm with Grams. I'll tell you everything tomorrow. Love you._

Tell, yeah. She'd tell Elena everything in the morning. But Bonnie still didn't think she could explain.


End file.
